A Twist of Fate
by MaelstromBankai
Summary: The worst thing about being from another dimension is that everyone wants to see what makes you tick. It doesn't matter what reasons they use to justify their nosiness, they always want to see what makes you special. Honestly, I doubt I can find a way home...so I'd better find a few allies in this new world. I already know I'm going to be stepping on a few toes before this is over.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!**

 **Prologue**

* * *

The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, bringing awareness to his mind. The silence was gradually splintered, cracked and broken by the _drip-drop_ splatter sound that was growing clearer and clearer. He tried moving his body, his mind still groggy and unfocused. The sudden and uncomfortably close shrieking of metal halted his efforts, the sound sending a stab of pain through his head.

The pain was good. It sharpened his mind and tore through the blanket of grogginess that had coated his head, casting aside whatever hold sleep may have had on him. The pain was welcome, an old friend he never knew he missed until it was absent. He spat out the blood that had gathered in his mouth, ignoring the taste now that he had regained his bearings, and opened his eyes.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, he was in an enclosed room with little light to see. Well, room wasn't a good word to describe his surroundings; it was more like a basement of some kind, with the suffocating and oppressive feeling of a cell. Glancing to his side, he noted his right arm chained to the wall he was slumped against. Another glance to his left confirmed the same situation for his other arm.

Looking ahead this time, he allowed himself a moment to gather himself. He called out to the power that lay within him, gathering a sizeable amount of it and directing it all towards his right eye.

Focusing his gaze upon the center of the room, he activated one of his right eye's unique ability and felt himself being sucked into a distortion in space. Barely a heartbeat later, he was suddenly in the same spot he had been looking at, his limbs free from the chains that had found him.

Slowly rising to his feet, keeping his guard up in case his kidnappers decided to come and check on him, he rubbed his hands lightly and walked towards the metal door in front of him.

His eyes narrowed when he noted no lock on the door. Forming a cross with his fingers, a small puff of smoke appeared before disappearing just as quickly to reveal a clone of the young man. The clone immediately stepped forward while he quickly hopped back to the center of the room, keeping his gaze locked on the door.

If there were any traps that were set off by fiddling with the door, he did not want to be caught in their wake.

His clone placed its hand on the door and pushed, revealing the door to be unlocked. He still kept his distance, wary of any traps that would activate after a delayed response, and waited for a whole minute before signaling his clone to continue.

Making his way out of the room, he found himself in an equally dark tunnel that went on a ways before rising to some crudely shaped stairs. Scowling to himself, he nonetheless signaled to his clone to scout ahead. The clone nodded and silently blended into the darkness, completely invisible to normal eyes.

Now that he was alone, he retreated into the cell and scurried towards the darkest corner of the room. Settling down, he nonchalantly bit into his thumb and drew blood, which he then smeared across a black design on his left forearm. Another small puff of smoke was made as the contents of the seal were retrieved.

Quickly stripping off the rags he was wearing, he slipped on the mesh armor with navy accents under an identical T-shirt with a simple white belt around the waist and dark blue pants. Just as he finished putting on the long, black cloak with red clouds, a rush of memories came back to him.

' _Ah,'_ he perked up, no longer as weary and guarded as he appeared, _'what idiots.'_

With an image in his mind he immediately activated his distortion ability once more, being sucked into the distortion and immediately deposited unto a high point. Glancing about, he confirmed that he had indeed appeared on the highest structure in his vicinity, a large tree whose branches were thick enough to support his weight. He noted the guards in his vicinity were clearly not doing their job and were loudly conversing, as relaxed as civilians during times of peace. The fact that they hadn't noticed his clone coming up the stairs spoke of their inattentiveness.

At that moment, a cloud blocking the moon drifted past and something so strange and bewildering to him caught his attention.

' _What…the hell?'_

The moon was _wrong_. It hung in the night sky, large and beautiful like a pearl, but was inexplicably shattered. Its cracked pieces were strewn across the night sky, a scene that was more believable as an art piece than reality.

He took a moment to collect himself. Glaring at his right arm, he concentrated on the flow of his energy and watched for any irregularity in its flow. After determining that there was no tampering with his energy flow, he was forced to acknowledge what he had seen. Whether it was an illusion on a different level than he had experienced before or simply a reality he was denying was another matter.

Putting his thoughts aside for the moment, he proceeded to use the same technique as his clone and became invisible to the eyes of the people. With his form hidden away, he glanced down at the guards once more with a pensive frown.

'… _I think I'll need these two to find my way out of here.'_

A beat later, he dropped from his perch and landed as softly as he could, silent and deadly as a ghost. Making his way behind the guards, he was about to grab them before realizing that they were speaking in a language that didn't make sense to him. Perhaps he had been taken to lands beyond the Elemental Nations, where the people spoke a different language, but seeds of doubt were burrowing into his mind.

His frown deepened. _'More work. Annoying, but not impossible.'_

Gathering his power once more, this time directing its flow towards his hands and increasing the vibrations, he immediately grabbed the lax guards by their shoulders as he initiated his attack, sending a potent surge of lightning through their bodies.

A moment later they were back in the cell, where no bystander could catch a glimpse of what he was planning to do. Cutting the lightning technique, he barely gave the two a moment before he struck them both in succession, each strike bending their knees in the opposite direction with sickening cracks.

As they fell to the ground, crying out at the pain and possibly shock, he summoned a clone that immediately grabbed the closest one just as he took a step and grabbed the other. Grabbing his victim's jaw, he roughly jerked their face towards his and made contact with the young man's clearly pained and terrified eyes.

He tore through the man's mind with the subtlety of a bull, battering through the feeble defenses of his mind and clawing his way into the man's memories. There were numerous details that surprised him, but he didn't have the luxury of time; he estimated a few minutes until someone noticed the two guards weren't at their posts and made an alert.

His extraction took a bit longer than he had anticipated, but when he released his hold over the man's mind he was satisfied with the information he had discovered. His clone dispersed as well, feeding him the memories it had unearth with its target.

Gathering his power once more, he focused it to one finger this time. Instead of the lightning from before, the energy that coated his digit was thin and sharpened as possible rather than vibrating it. The result was a shimmering aura that was barely visible.

Sliding his finger over the guard's throat, he noted how easily his digit had cut through the man's flesh and quickly moved unto the other guard. Silently slitting the other man's throat, he then dragged the dying men to the wall he had woken up at and quickly secured them with the chains.

Reappearing back on the tree branch, he checked once more for any signs of life. Cautiously dropping down to the ground once more, he began to make his way through the settlement. The streets were suspiciously bare, with little more than a few lights to indicate any kind of activity. The few buildings along the street were closed and boarded up.

'… _This feels like a trap.'_

Almost in response to his thoughts, he felt his surroundings change. What was once a creepy and dead area transformed into one that reeked of an unflattering mix of negative emotions. The change was quite sudden and jarring, but he felt no fear even as he stilled himself.

His eyes scanned his surroundings once more, noting that nothing had changed. Had he no means of detecting the negative emotions that wafted from the buildings, he surely would have found himself in some trouble during his escape.

He narrowed his eyes and grasped the vile chakra that was within him. Even though they were hidden, he had used this power enough times to know that orange-red flame-like markings had spread across his body. The chakra, filled with intense loathing and killing intent, filled his body and he could already feel his abilities increase significantly. The entire process took but a moment, a feat that demonstrated his body's ease and acceptance of the chakra.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

The unholy sound stilled him, utterly smashing through the silence with a sudden ferocity. It was unlike anything he had heard before, a scream so unhuman and bestial that nature itself seemed to quiver at its presence.

He immediately disappeared from the streets, reappearing back on the tree branch and swiftly casting the illusion once more to hide his form away from any wandering eyes.

There was a flurry of activity almost immediately after; human screams rose in the distance, lights switched on in buildings as people stepped out to investigate the disturbance. The small settlement was coming to life in the night, absolutely suffocating him with the intense and pungent emotions wafting through the atmosphere.

An explosion in the distance caught his attention, the fiery spectacle creating even more panic and fear in that area. He hunkered down in the shadows as a few of the settlers became visible, a small group of children and teenagers making their way towards his location. The group of five eventually passed underneath his position, their cries and words nothing more than incomprehensible sounds to him.

His eyes narrowed as he noted the two oldest looking members directing the group. They were clearly distraught, but their faces showed a fierce determination that suggested they had an objective and would fight to achieve it.

'… _They may know a way out of this place.'_

Dropping down to the floor again, he began to follow the kids as they made their escape. Silently keeping pace with them, which wasn't hard as they were travelling with youngsters and he was just better than them, he committed the path they were taking to memory.

One of the children, a young boy with auburn hair and golden-brown eyes, looked back and screamed, gaining the attention of the group.

The kunai was in his hands a split second before the sheer terror in the group damn near tripled. The surge in fear stayed his hand, and when he turned towards the disarrayed town he immediately understood why.

Stepping out of the destruction was a creature that resembled some of the monstrosities found in nightmares and twisted minds. It was humanoid, and stood at a height that towered over his own. The creature had long straight hair, reaching down to its waist, and markings decorating its chest stretching from the center across its chest and shoulders.

As it stalked towards him, he noted the black claws on its fingertips and toes as well as the small, furry red tufts, two starting from its collarbone and stretching around his neck and one each on his wrists and ankles, and white skin. The creature's face was a crude imitation of a human's skull, with four spike-shaped marks decorating it, two of them stopping by the forehead and the other two stretching past the eyes and teeth, going past its chin and joining with the marks on its chest. Small marks resembling a heart, but with the top and bottom open, extended from the inner corners of its eyes. Two long forward-pointing horns jutted out, with black strips extending from their center towards the tips.

The world came to a halt. The screams of the children beside him faded to nothing, leaving the pounding of his blood in his ears. The creature, clad in a ruined cloth that covered its crotch, clutched a black sword in its grip.

Its eyes, nothing more than pools of darkness, were focused directly on him.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

The beast's unholy scream tore through the air as it suddenly charged, instantly closing the distance between them. Even as his eyes caught the beast's movements as it drew closer, its jaws open and bearing its fangs down upon him, it struck far faster than he could react.

The children's screams doubled when the creature suddenly appeared before them, blood spraying all over from the severed arm in its mouth and the corpse it gripped in its hands.

* * *

Crimson eyes that pierced through the dimly lit room narrowed when the Scroll in her hands began to vibrate. Glancing down at the device, her frown grew when she saw who exactly was making the call.

Answering the call, the holographic screen displayed the picture of a young man as a voice spoke clearly, "Boss, we've got a problem!"

She sat up in her seat, picking up the agitation in his voice. "What is it?"

"Someone in the town fucked up and the target is on the rampage! At this rate it'll be out in Remnant in the next half-hour!"

 _Shit. Just what I needed._ "I'm on my way. Return to camp at once and get ready to leave when I return." Without another word, she ended the call and stood up.

She had a youthful appearance and facial shape; though her eyebrows were a little bit higher, and there were slight age lines under her eyes. Her complexion was light, her hair black with red highlights.

She wore a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets with fingerless gloves. An object that looked to be made from feathers hangs from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings with a red splatter pattern, and black leather boots beneath them.

Grasping her weapon, a long-bladed, single-edged ōdachi, she secured it on her hip and grasped an object on her desk. As she stepped away from her seat, the object was revealed to be a fearsome, full-face mask that resembled the face of a Grimm. The mask had four eye slits, further enhancing the character's inhuman appearance.

She drew her blade and slashed at seemingly nothing but air. Out of nowhere, a red and black energy field opened in the space before her. Without a moment's hesitance, she stepped inside and disappeared.

* * *

There was no warning.

No strange sound was made, no light glinted on the body. The scent of blood, as unusual as it was from the human it had struck, was the only scent that filled the air. There had been no attempt made by the disarmed human to save itself.

So why was everything burning? Why did the blood in its mouth turn to fire? Why did the wind itself cut at its body to fiercely?

Why was the human it had killed still alive?

It released another cry, shouting its pain to the world. It dropped the black thing it clutched to the ground as it shook itself and rolled on the earth. Its attempts to dull the flames hurt, but the flames and burning pain dimmed as it continued to throw itself at the dirt.

The negative emotions abruptly returned and suddenly nothing mattered. All the pain was pushed to the side as a deep, aching hunger overrode any other instinct it had. It staggered to its feet, staring at the human that rose from the earth.

Its cry was pitiful this time, a far cry from the powerful roars that had shaken the village before.

It took one step closer, towards the human absolutely drenched in negative emotions, only for its hunger to be swept aside once more by the flames that spewed from the human's mouth.

The scream intensified. It clawed at its body, its face, scratching at the fire that burned, _burned_ _**burnedburnedBurned!**_

The fire kept burning even when it rolled on the earth, the pain sharp and unrelenting even as the negative emotion human kept moving farther and farther away from it.

There was a sudden sound and then everything ended.

Raven Branwen stared at the disappearing corpse of her target, the charred remains blowing away in the wind as the once peaceful village burned in the night. Switching her weapon back to its sword form, she turned in the direction that the young boy had taken after dispatching the unidentified Grimm.

She was intrigued.

* * *

 **A/N: It's been a while, hasn't it? To be honest, I didn't think it would take me this long to write another chapter for something…but that's life. Stuff happened, which killed whatever enthusiasm I had to write, and things have been getting more hectic right now.**

 **I decided to remake this story because I realized my initial attempt wasn't what I wanted, and it put me in a corner that really had me stumped. I had a number of scenes planned that would've ended up as flashbacks because I cut straight to Naruto joining Beacon Academy. This time, I want to make a mini-arc about Naruto's crash course with Remnant, how different and messed-up he is compared to canon, and the reasons for his association with Raven all before we head to Beacon for Volume 1.**

 **So, to summarize: what you saw in The Wild Card is still going to be present, but it will be done in a different way and at a slower pace. A few things may be tweaked, but this is the same story being told differently. Naruto's past and abilities? Same in both fics. What happens to various characters? Same in both fics.**

 **Also, since I know people are going to ask and its not really a secret, Naruto's Mangekyo Sharingan are the same as Shin Unchiha from Naruto Gaiden. Just throwing that out there.**

 **Please read and review,**

 **MaelstromBankai.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

The Beowolf's head was thrown across the pond and crashed into a charging Beringel, staggering the rampaging creature for a moment. The wolfish Grimm's head immediately exploded from the impact, catching the off-guard gorilla Grimm in the resulting eruption of intense flames and scorching wind. The Beringel howled its agony as it staggered once more, backing away from the falling remains of the explosion and favoring its right arm. Its black, burnt-looking skin had been reduced to a vibrant red angry colour that extended from the back of its head all the way towards its backside that oozed a black, tar-like goop with each movement the creature made.

The creature's shriek spiked in intensity when the earth itself shot up and impaled it through the bony plate covering its chest, falling silent a moment later. It made feeble movements to free itself, its fingers scrabbling at the hardened earth spike uselessly, before its last breath escaped and it succumbed to its death. Its body slumped forward, a black smoke already wafting from the cooling corpse; within moments, the creature's body began to dissolve into nothingness.

All this was ignored by the other creatures in the area; if anything, the death of more Grimm had driven them into a frenzy that pushed them to be more reckless with their attacks.

The target of their frenzied and desperate attacks easily maneuvered through the onslaught of attacks, his crimson eyes darting from one spot to the another at a pace that seemed almost impossible. The young man's body twisted and turned at almost impossible angles as he weaved through the mass of Grimm bearing down upon him.

One substantially larger Beowolf swung at him as it barreled its way through the two Boarbatusks in its path. His eyes had seen the path of the creature's swing, and he darted away from the reach of the swipe. Not a moment later he was back in the Beowolf's face, darting to the side and avoiding its follow-up swing as he pounced on the creature's back.

Before the Grimm could realize he was on it, he was already leaping off its huge frame with his hands forming a strange gesture.

The closest group of Grimm scarcely had a second to raise their heads towards him before they were overcome by a sudden sensation; their young, instinctual minds were thrown for a loop as they were pulled in by some unseen force towards the now falling human. Their sudden panic and fear gave way to sharp, intense pain when a massive orb of roaring flames erupted from the human's mouth and slammed into their bodies, sending them crashing to the grounds in a heap of body parts and embers.

Landing on his feet, the blond human flashed a scowl at the Grimm making their way towards him, the scowl much fiercer than before when he noticed the size of the group had increased once more. The scowl twisted into a fierce snarl when he noted the larger, more armored Grimm making their appearance in the recent batch.

The snarl, combined with the black flame-like markings on his face, twisted his appearance into something quite inhuman.

"Enough of this," he uttered.

The air around him changed, a shimmer of something surrounding him as he raised his hand high, fingers closed into a fist. The pressure of chakra that was building up in his body grew at a startling rate, clambering for his attention like an attention-starved puppy. His body grew heavier as the chakra seeped into his very bones, the weapons he had finally decided to use after so long.

His grip tightened as he faced the Grimm down with no fear. _'This one's for you, Shishou (Master).'_ He slammed his fist into the earth, ignoring the teeth sinking into his back by a Grimm from his back.

' _Sawarabi no Mai (Dance of the Seedling Fern)!'_

* * *

A raven flying high above the earth cocked its head when it witnessed a sudden spike of something long, large and white erupt from the earth in the distance. The thing punched through the thick cover of trees and foliage that covered the area, shooting past the tallest trees of the earth to stand roughly as tall as a twenty-story building.

A moment later, several other eruptions occurred around the first spike, like several fragments of teeth growing around the base of a large tooth. A faint cracking noise could be heard, and the raven blinked as a number of trees collapsed to make way for the expanding size of the eruptions.

The raven let out a low, gurgling croak before it descended towards the earth. Large black wings flapped in the early morning, its darkened color hiding it within the shadows of the early dawn. The bird landed on the ground, but differently; instead of talons, there were black leather boots.

Raven glanced round her position, ignoring the vibrant and thick vegetation and instead focusing on the signs of destruction, namely the scorched trees that were in abundance. There were several trees in her immediate area and in the distance that had similar blackened trunks, which was something she had picked up quite early in her tracking.

Whoever it was that she was following, they used fire a lot. From the moment she had begun her search, burn marks had been a constant presence during her movement. The burns were initially small and contained, small enough and farther apart to avoid the possibility of them being a person's trail, but had become closer and closer, larger and more vicious.

Walking up to the closest scorch mark, her lips pursed in thought when she felt the heat wafting off. _'So whoever's behind this was here roughly half an hour ago.'_ Her eyes narrowed as she set off in pursuit of the person responsible for the destruction, following the clear trail before her.

' _Still, why does he keep running into so many Grimm packs?'_ She wondered.

True, Grimm attacked more fiercely in the wild and away from the kingdoms, but what she had stumbled upon was more than what she considered normal. If her suspicions about the frequency and nature of the scorch marks was true, then that would mean whoever she was following had been assaulted at least twenty times in the span of twenty-four hours. The lack of a body and blood around several of the markings also ruled out the possibility of attacks from people, be they Hunters or bandits.

' _Also, why did they always use fire dust to fight? At this rate, they'll be running low on Dust supplies before the sun fully rises.'_

Even with that thought in mind, she did not alter her movement; her strides were urgent and held purpose, yet she was not in a rush to meet with the interesting person from the ruined town.

She continued her steady march through the land for five minutes before the trail eventually led to a clearing, and it was here that her crimson eyes gained the same interested gleam from the desecrated town.

There, pushing through the earth and the pond of the area, were the same white things that she had seen from the sky. They were sprung up haphazardly, sprawling all over the place to the point where they resembled clumps of overgrown grass. There was little to be seen within the mess of spikes before her, but the sight was still fascinating.

She marched up to the closest spike, one which was curiously growing from the center of another larger spike. Her hand reached out to grasp the spike, and her interest deepened when she made contact. The sensation was familiar to her, though it wasn't completely familiar. She tightened her grip on the spike and reflexively let go when she felt a sharp pain.

Examining her hand, she was quite surprised to discover a cut across her palm. Flexing her hand, her surprise mounted when she felt the wound sting and saw blood slowly well out of the cut. Glancing back at the spikes, she ignored the stinging and drew her blade.

The crimson blade gleamed when it slid from her Dust cylinder. Gripping her weapon tightly, she struck at the spike.

Her curiosity increased when her attack did nothing to the material. Sheathing her blade, she drew closer to the spike. Her eyes thoroughly examined the thing before her. She run her fingers over the spike once again, noting how even the light touch she used was enough to cut through her gloves.

' _Is this…bone?'_ Taking out her scroll, she quickly snapped a picture of the spike and took a look around the area. Her lips stretched into a grin when she noticed more burn marks on a tree.

As she took off once again, a pair of orange eyes hidden in the dense foliage blinked once before a hiss was heard.

* * *

 _The sound of sandals clicking as they made their way towards his cell was what roused him. His eyes snapped open, their crimson orbs hidden by the darkness of the room. The sounds were unfamiliar, which immediately put him on edge. He rarely had any visitors, and the ones that did come down for him all had distinctly unpleasant plans for him._

 _As the footsteps neared his form, chained to the wall opposite the doors and his limbs bound together as well, he narrowed his eyes. Despite his current situation, he focused a substantial amount of chakra into his fingertips. He felt, rather than saw, the bones affected by his chakra thicken and sharpen while still within his flesh, ready to fire at a moment's notice. The sharp pain he felt was ignored as he waited, no longer a surprise._

 _The action was much smoother than his first few attempts, where it had taken several moments to even manipulate the properties of his bones. Any and all attempts he had made to escape during the first six months of his stay here had been thwarted easily. As time went on, the repercussions of his attempts became more and more severe. After several "incidents" with the shinobi of this wretched place, he had no reservations about using the same 'gifts' they had forced into him to snap at their hands with every chance he got._

 _The footsteps came to a stop a fair distance from him, meaning the person had reached the sealed gate. His ears strained to hear the sound of the locking mechanism open, ready to fire his crude weapons at whoever was there._

 _A moment later, the gate was unlocked, the sound echoing loudly within the silent room. The finger bullets were primed to shoot, his anticipation pushing them out a bit. His fingers twitched slightly as the gate opened to reveal the person._

 _Actually, that assessment was wrong. It wasn't one person entering his cell, it was two. The detail startled him enough to derail his attempt at defiance. Opening his eyes fully, revealing the crimson eyes and three tomoe of the Uchiha Clan's dojutsu, he drank in the state of his visitors._

 _They were both male, but one was clearly older and more familiar to the bound boy. He had onyx eyes framed by black rimmed circular glasses and ash-grey hair, which he normally kept in a ponytail.. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, and dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband. He also dark purple fingerless gloves with armored plates on the back of the hand and a blue forehead protector._

 _The younger boy was certainly different from what he was used to seeing. For one, the pale guy wasn't being dragged around or bound with any suppression seals. While he had definitely seen a few people in this hellhole eventually get broken enough to serve that snake they called a leader, the guy before him seemed to have willingly come to this place. He had no forehead protector on, which made it difficult to tell where he was from. His clothes were plain, a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and white shorts._

" _Oh? Already up and at it again, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto's polite voice dragged his attention from the other guy and he levelled a glare at the glasses-wearing bastard. It was never a good thing when Kabuto was polite towards him._

 _Kabuto chuckled at his response and raised his arms in surrender. "My, aren't you in quite the mood. Relax, I'm not here to pick you up just yet." The grey-haired ninja turned to the younger boy, who was still staring at Naruto with a confusing intensity. "Sasuke-kun, you'll be partnering with Naruto-kun from now on. After every lesson, you'll be put against this guy here for a random number of hours."_

 _Sasuke…why did that sound familiar? Naruto could've sworn he'd heard of the name before, but it didn't sound like the boy before him._

 _Sasuke finally tore his gaze from Naruto to look at Kabuto. "I thought Orochimaru would be handling all aspects of my training," he spoke. He sounded frustrated, though that may have something to do with Naruto rather than his training situation._

 _Kabuto chuckled lightly. "Unfortunately, Orochimaru-sama has a few other projects developing and cannot be everywhere at once. While he will be handling the lion's share of your training, there will be a few others who will be delegated to you. Naruto-kun," his glasses gleamed as he pushed them back, "will be your sparring partner from here on."_

" _Tch."_

* * *

A sharp sting cut through his dream and his eyes snapped open. His right arm throbbed and he glanced down at the limb, looking right into the pale slit eyes of the crimson snake coiled around his arm. His lips stretched into a smile. "What'd I miss?"

The snake's tongue slipped out and back in for a moment. A deep, gravelly voice suddenly spoke, "There's someone approaching your location, Naruto-sama. A woman, to be exact. The others spotted her examining the remains of the Sawarabi no Mai and sent word as soon as they could."

His smile remained, but it grew less friendly. The last vestiges of sleep were ruthlessly cut down from his mind and he rose to his feet.

The cave he was in was just large enough for him to comfortably stand upright. The glare of the sun was blocked by the cave's mouth, which meant that the cave was dimly lit at the moment. He could make use of this; should the person following his trail actually make it to the cave, he'd have a lot of surprises in store for them.

"Thanks, Michi. I can handle whoever this person is, so why don't you and the others take a break?" He said.

The serpent let out a snort. "You're going to do something reckless again, aren't you?"

"Heh." His fingers sped through three seals and the chakra within surged forward at his call. Though he had gotten used to feeling his body change, there was still something off about becoming part tree. His body warped and stretched as _something_ pushed itself out of him, gradually gaining color and form until a perfect replica of himself was standing before him. "I'm not gonna deny that. I'm feeling a little stressed right now, so I'm going to vent a little."

'Michi' hissed in amusement. "Sayaka will be having your head for this the next time you call on us," he said.

He chuckled as he dropped to the floor and leaned against the cave walls. The clone gave a salute before it went through hand seals of its own. A moment later, the clone sank into the earth itself and disappeared.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Until then, you guys go do whatever it is you do when I'm not around," He said, absently bringing his fingers to his mouth and biting through the flesh. The harsh taste of his blood had him remove the digit and weave a new set of hand seals.

"Alright then, later." With a puff of smoke, the snake disappeared from the cave as he slammed his hand unto the ground.

There was another puff of smoke, but the creature that appeared was significantly stranger and more striking than the snake. It was small, roughly the size of a rat, with four small limbs, a tail, and a white skin tone that clashed with the darkness of the cave. It had an askew mouth that grinned fiercely at everything, a human-like nose that was squished and tilted more towards its right side.

A wry smile stretched across his face when he gazed at the single crimson eye staring up at him, the three tomoes circling the pupil.

"I've got a job for you, Migi."

* * *

 **A/N: Finally got this chapter done. I rewrote a whole bunch of things, which is what led to this late release. I was thinking of wrapping this mini-arc in five chapters excluding the prologue, but that may increase or decrease in the future.**

 **Naruto's history will start coming after his confrontation with Raven, but it will be a very barebones summary of who he is. I wanted to let Raven and you guys have an idea of what he went through, with the specifics coming in at a later time when Kabuto formally joins the stage or when Naruto opens up to people.**

 **Yes, Kabuto is a big part of this story. Rather than Madara, Kaguya or Black Zetsu being the main antagonist, I decided to go with Kabuto because I felt he was a better fit for this story than the others. He and Orochimaru are the only Naruto characters that are really in this story other than Naruto himself, and Orochimaru is around simply because of the Curse Seal. That doesn't mean Orochimaru was just thrown in there for the hell of it, though.**

 **Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to come out.**

 **Read and review,**

 **MaelstromBankai.**


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